Yukio Mishimas The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the...

Yukio Mishimas The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea - Existentialist Views On Death Cultures all over the world have different convictions surrounding the final, inevitable end for all humans - death. In the United States, and in most Westernized cultures we tend to view death as something that can be avoided through the use of medicine, artificial respiration machines, and the like. To us, death is not a simple passing, and usually, we do not accept it as a normal part of life. Death, to Westernized folk, is not celebrated, but is rather something to be feared, something that haunts us all in the back of our minds. However, this mentality is not held through all cultures -- in Mishimas The Sailor, a Japanese novel steeped†¦show more content†¦Many existentialists believe that religious, metaphysical, agnostic or atheistic convictions alter the true meaninglessness of the act, but that through understanding death as being meaningless, we actually add to the meaning in our own lives. If a human becomes capable of accepting courageously, as the boys did, the absolute certainty of his death, he grows more authentic and begins to fill his life with new meaning. In fact, there is a close correlation between the courage to face the unavoidablity of death, and then through that, to find a balanced view and perspective on their place in the living world. This idea is not just shown in existentialist literature like The Sailor, but is embedded within literature that we all grew up with. In many ways, a simple fairy tale can have numerous parallels with Mishimas ideologies. For example, in one fairy tale - the story of a chivalrous knight - a knight must go out into the woods on an agreed upon day to face the Green Knight, who represents death. Here, he has to let the mysterious knight cut off his head. As he goes into the forest, accepting his impending death, he meets a beautiful princess, and stays with her for three days. This hostess thrice attempts to seduce him - but to no avail. Bound by his chivalrous duties as a knight, the young man goes out into the woods to meet with

What is the English Translation of RSVP

Chances are, youve used the French abbreviation RSVP without even knowing its English translation. Commonly used for correspondence like wedding invitations and other formal occasions in the U.S. and U.K., RSVP stands for  rà ©pondez sil vous plaà ®t and is literally translated as  respond if you please.  It is used when the speaker doesnt know or wishes to show respect for another person.   Usage and Examples Though its a French acronym, RSVP is no longer used much in France, where its considered formal and very old-fashioned. The preferred expression is rà ©ponse souhaità ©e, usually followed by a date and/or a method. Alternatively, you can also use the abbreviation  SVP, which stands  for  sil vous plaà ®t  and means please in English. For example: Rà ©ponse souhaità ©e avant le 14 juillet.   Please respond by 14 July.Rà ©ponse souhaità ©e à   01.23.45.67.89.   Please respond by calling 01.23.45.67.89.Rà ©ponse souhaità ©e par mail.   Please respond by email. Use in English Oftentimes, people sending invitations will write please RSVP, rather than just using the abbreviation. Technically, this is incorrect because it means please please respond. But most people wont fault you for doing so. RSVP is also sometimes used in English as an informal verb: Mike is RSVPing by phone.I already RSVPed last week. Etiquette experts say that if you receive an  invitation with an RSVP, you should respond whether your answer is yes or no. When it says RSVP regrets only, you should respond if you do not plan to attend because a non-response is taken as an affirmative.

Silas Marner Major Themes Free Essays

Major Themes Class Silas Marner centers around two households, Marner’s cottage by the stone-pits and the Cass manor, the Red House. These two settings represent class extremes, and the people of Raveloe know it. The cottage is the ramshackle abode of the lowliest member of Raveloe society; the manor is a sprawling home filled with gentry and a location for dances. We will write a custom essay sample on Silas Marner Major Themes or any similar topic only for you Order Now Rather than set an impermeable boundary between these two worlds, Eliot stages many intersections between the two households. Dunstan Cass, who is a member of the moneyed class, enters Marner’s home looking for money. Silas Marner, lowly and miserable, raises a Squire’s granddaughter as his own child. Godfrey Cass, though he owns Marner’s cottage at the end of the novel, is actually in the weaver’s debt. These are just a few instances of the permeability of class boundaries in the novel. In Raveloe, strict boundaries of class do not necessarily lead to greater happiness among the higher classes. Indeed, those with money-or those who are supposed to have money-tend to be the most harried and corrupt characters, such as Dunstan, Godfrey, and even Silas before Eppie. The person most oppressed by circumstances in Silas Marner is perhaps Godfrey Cass, who finds himself at the ercy of a lower-class wife, who fails to have children of his own, and who ends up envying the bond of a lowly weaver and his daughter. Silas Marner and Eppie, on the other hand, though they do not have status or wealth, have power over the Casses and seem to enjoy unmitigated happiness. The Rainbow tavern and the church in Raveloe also serve as places where class differences are evident. The Rainbow becomes quite a different place when the â€Å"gentles† are having a dance; during these times (in Chapter Six, for instance), the lesser villagers, like Mr. Macey, reign over the Rainbow, telling stories all the while about the anded members of society. At the church, the important members of society sit in assigned seats at the front of the church while the rest of the villagers sit behind them and watch. In both these places, although everyone recognizes the status difference between the common villagers and the gentry, this difference does not seem to be a problem in Raveloe. The lower classes have not been fed the broth of revolt; they seem quite content. Meanwhile, the upper classes are not oppressive or cruel slave drivers like their factory- owning counterparts. In fact, the gentry rely upon the villagers to sincerely appreciate their mportance and value in the town. It is Mr. Macey, not Mr. Lammeter, who celebrates the history of the Warrens. And without the respectful, watching eyes of the villagers, the front-row seats in church would have less dignity. Thus, Silas Marner tends to represent class differences with historical accuracy. Eliot seems drawn to this pre-industrial era, when there was an easygoing class hierarchy in country towns. Compare the relatively class- indifferent respect that is shown in Raveloe to the horrible factory in the manufacturing town that Marner and Eppie visit in Chapter Twenty-One. The industrial world treats the lower classes as inhuman ogs in the factory wheels. In Raveloe’s trade-based society, meanwhile, each villager can play an important role in the success of the society. That is, the weaver is respected to some degree by the Squire if he weaves his linens well. Even so, one might reasonably argue that Eliot’s idyllic depiction of happy peasants romanticizes the difficulties of the class differences in nineteenth-century England. Myth and Folk lore Many critics of the novel fault its unrealistic situations and conclusions. They point out that Marner’s conversion from a miserable old misanthrope to a loving father happens too quickly, and they argue that the end of the ovel has too much poetic justice, with every character getting a just reward. These critics hold the novel to a standard of realism that others see as inappropriate to Eliot’s goals in Silas Marner . Defenders of the novel argue that is is more like a fable, operating through the moral logic of a fairy tale in order to accomplish goals beyond merely representing reality. In fables, ballads, myths and fairy tales, sudden transformations, inexplicable coincidences and other such unrealistic plot devices are part of the magic. Novels need not read like documentaries. Silas Marner is a work of fantasy as much as it represents a deeper eality. While the plot reflects the novel’s mythic character, there is also explicit reference to myth and l egend throughout the novel. Weaving itself is a classic emblem of myths across cultures (see the Mythology and Weaving web site). Certainly Eliot was well aware of this emblem when she chose her protagonist and the activity of weaving. The story also has a strong Biblical undercurrent, recalling especially the stories of Job, King David, the expulsion from Eden, and Cain and Abel. And the author of Silas Marner expects readers to understand its many references to ancient mythology including the Fates and Arachne (a weaver ransformed into a spider–note the profusion of insect imagery describing Marner). The hearth, where Eppie is suddenly found, is an especially powerful image in Roman myth. Myth and superstition are active patterns in the village. Mr. Macey tells ghost stories about the Warrens and predicts the future. The villagers look with curiosity on wanderers such as Marner, perceiving that such persons belong to a separate, magical race with powers to heal or harm. The se patterns contribute to the folkloric character of the work. Even while Silas Marner satirizes the superstitions of the villagers and offers a fairly realistic explanation or every â€Å"miracle† in it, the novel engages the mysteries of fate and love that characterize legendary literature. Memory George Eliot and William Wordsworth have a special affinity. In Silas Marner , more perhaps than in any of her other works, this affinity provides the root of the novel. Eliot even facetiously wrote, in a letter to her publisher, that she â€Å"should not have believed that any one would have been interested in [the novel] but myself (since William Wordsworth is dead). † Eliot uses poetry from Wordsworth as her epigraph, she quotes and echoes his language throughout the work, and she centers the redemption of her rotagonist on one of Wordsworth’s favorite themes: memory. For Eliot and for Wordsworth, memory is not simply about â€Å"remembering† in the everyda y sense; it is about the profound experience of owning one’s own history, of embodying one’s past. For example, in Silas Marner’s redemption after finding Eppie, the first thing he thinks about is his long-lost baby sister, someone he has not thought about for at least fifteen years. In fact, Eppie’s name was also his mother’s name and his sister’s name. Eppie does not merely allow Marner to move forward out of the meaningless cycle of weaving and mourning in which he is trapped at the time of er arrival, but she also allows Marner to recover elements of his own past. Many other motives are connected with memory. Marner’s herb gathering, for instance, is something he learned from his mother, which he had forgotten until Eppie arrived. His healing process requires backward reaches into the positive, meaningful elements of his past. In the presence of Eppie, Marner’s memory propels him to a richer future. George Eliot’s ow n memory contributed to key elements of the novel. In a letter, Eliot writes that the novel unfolded â€Å"from the merest millet-seed of thought. † This little seed was her recollection f a stooped, old weaver walking along in the Midlands whom she happened to see one day long before she began the work. Eliot’s enrichment of this scrap of her memory is much like the process of remembering in the novel. From a remembered gesture-such as gathering herbs with one’s mother- one can unfold an entire horizon of value pertinent to the present. Memory, for both Eliot and her characters, is active and creative, more than a passive â€Å"storehouse† of knowledge and experience. In remembering we deepen our present life. One way to create the new is to refashion and reinterpret what we have recovered from old times and old meanings. How to cite Silas Marner Major Themes, Papers

Importance of IT for Woolworth Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Importance of IT for Woolworth. Answer: Introduction: Woolworth limited is the company that is located in Australia and headquartered at Sydney. It is the supermarket that operates in retail industry of Australia and also considered as the leading firm in the industry. This is because the company has great market share in the industry. It owns around 3000 stores all over Australia and New Zealand. In terms of technology, the company always remains number one amongst all the other competitors (Applegate, Austin and McFarlan, 2007). This is because the company tries to update its processes with the latest technologies so as to attain the competitive advantage in this field. The major example of Woolworths being technological active is its online business. This website of the company provides the facilities to the customers in order to buy the products online and get it on the doorsteps. There is a need of more technological improvement and involvement of IT in all the process of the company because involvement of IT results in reduction o f human efforts and thus helps the company to get the output soon and efficiently. Importance of IT for Woolworth: The major problem that the company is facing is in regard to the online business of the company. It has been identified by the company that the online platform o the company does not have the capability and the functionality to support the customers and also dies not have any capability to plan the growth (Bass, 2007). The company wants the platform that allows the firm to enhance its functionality and the online business. It is very important for the company to implement the IT tools in one or the other function of the business, the first areas where the implementation is important is customers service. As Woolworth is the firm that is customer oriented so it is very much important for the company to serve the customer with the products along with provision of great service after purchase. That can be given by the online portals only. There is much other process where the IT is important for the company. One of them is the customer relationship management. Implementation of IT tools in such a process results in enhancing the customer relationship. Promotion management is one of the fields where the IT tools tea very much important (Brenner, Zarnekow and Wittig, 2012). The online tools of promotion provide the companies a great chance to reach the masses with low cost. IT tools requirements: Implementation of the software and the technology in the organization process requires the organization to take some of the steps in order to implement the software. Some of the pre-requisite are discussed below: Planning: It is the first step to any new process. Planning is the process that results in making the blueprint of the whole activities sequentially in order to achieve the objective, in case of implementation of the IT tool, the planning is done in order to design the software, the requirement of hardware etc. Cost: Cost is the major part of this whole process of software implementation. The cost that is involved in this field is related to hiring and training cost, designing cost, installation cost etc. Installation: Installation is the part that allows the company like Woolworth to install the program in the functions where it is required (Dos Santos, 2011). There are many projects in Woolworth that has been implemented such collaboration with Olympics, project galaxy etc. Training: Training is the stage where the employees of the organization are being trained in order to use the installed program very efficiently. Training is important because the employees are very much new to the software that has been introduced to them (Buhalis and Law, 2008). Thus, training session needs to be conducted in order to train the employees for the same. Employees not only improve their ability professionally by training but also have the capability to develop themselves at individual level. IT usage in Woolworths: There are many processes and functions where the company has incorporated new technologies. Some of them are discussed below: Project galaxy: Project galaxy is about introducing the new SAP system. This system is regarding the improvement of the customer relationship management. Other than this field this SAP is also related to the performance reporting, ordering processes and buying. This project has different aspects of promotion management as well (Celuch, Murphy and Callaway, 2007). This is the new online portal and its training is provided to the people or the employees of the company. This project was the final part of the project of technological up gradation that was started in 1999. The project name was project refresh. This project focuses on restructuring the whole business of the company. Olympic software: It is software that allows the company keeps the track records of the sales of the company. As the company was facing the challenge of online business and wants to enhance the same so it is very much important for the company to implement the changes in its online portal. Introduction of chrome technology: it has been identified that the windows software of the company has been replaced by the new Google Chrome technology. Around 85% of the Woolworths devices are using this technology and makes the price easier for the people. The company has announced that for 12months, it is going to be transitioned into a chrome technology. This replacement by the company is done because that company wants to be updated in very latest technology and facilitates to their employees with the same (Davenport, 2013). Several changes have been made in the portal and the online processes that have been used such as, replacement of Microsoft email from the Gmail that provides more facilities to collaborate and connect with each other. Chrome boxes have been introduced by the company that allow the firm for video conferencing etc. implementation of the Google devices in the company is possible because of the web based service of citrix. This is also a tool of IT that helps in installation part of the new software program. Woolworth is amongst the first companies which have installed the Google Apps. Project mercury: Project mercury is the supply chain development program of the company. This program looks at many processes such as what are the thing and the products ordered from the vendors, how it reached to the distribution and so on. Benefits of IT for Woolworth: Increase the sales: It has been analyzed that after using the IT tools the sales of the company has been increased. This is because these IT tools improve the efficiency of the process and the functions of the company. Sales of the company depend on the interaction between the customers and the employees or the company (Farkas, 2007). As Woolworth is the firm that has improved its customers service relationship by implementing the IT tool, and providing the services to the customers online helps the customers to make good relation with the company and vice versa. Reduction of the cost: Most of the human work id replaced by the technology and thus this makes the work more efficient and faster. This results in reduction of the cost and the elimination of the non-value added functions. Removal of such activities also reduces the cost of whole process and the function. Individual development of the employees: As the new programs have been installed in the company so the company focuses on train the employees for the same. This makes the employees more developed in regard with the technology. This not only develops the professional knowledge of the employees but also develop them individually (Kohli and Grover,2008). Easy monitoring of the processes: Online portal allow the company to keep the record. It replaces all the prior practices that are being dine on the spreadsheet. The new software helps in storing the data automatically about the order, store products etc. Risk associated with the IT tools: Data protection: As discussed that Woolworth is the company that is suing the latest technologies in all its process. Changing or replacing the old process requires the new process to be installed and transferring of data from old to new. This may ruin the security of the data and the data may be leaked. This is because to install the new program the company depends on third party firm and has to provide all the details about the company to that third party which may not be so much secured (Li, Peters, Richardson and Weidenmier Watson, 2012). Privacy: Privacy is the risks in terms of customers. If the customers shop online from Woolworth, they save their personal details and made their account on the portal. This portal then automatically accesses their details. This develops the issue of privacy. Maintenance and monitoring of It tools: Monitoring means evaluating the IT tools to check whether it is functioning according to the plan or not and maintenance means making the required changes in the tools. Monitoring requires a sequential process to be conducted I order to evaluate the tools (Rogsch and Klingsch, 2012). This helps in identifying the deviation and drawbacks in the IT tools. Any deviation if identified is corrected at the same time. In case of Woolworth, the company is very much focused in the monitoring process. It can be identified by the fact that the company has replaced its windows with the Google chrome functions so as to make their process more efficient and easy to deal with (Turban, Leidner, McLean and Wetherbe, 2008). Monitoring also help in reducing the risks associated with the IT tools in the company. If the audit of the IT tools and the team is regularly conducted than any of the threat can be detected and the corrective actions can be made over it. Conclusion: This study helps in analyzing the involvement of information technology in business. The business that has been chosen in the study is Woolworth. It has been analyzed that Woolworth has introduced the IT tool in almost all the processes on order to introduce the human efforts and make their process more efficient and faster (Riel and Becker, 2008). There are many requirements that need to be considered before implementation of any IT tool. These requirements re training, installing, cost of the installation etc. there are some risk also associated with the use of IT tools such as security of the data, privacy and other similar threats. Thus, monitoring of these tools is necessary to detect the threat at early stage so that it can remove at the same time. References: Applegate, L.M., Austin, R.D. and McFarlan, F.W., 2007.Corporate information strategy and management: text and cases. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Bass, L., 2007.Software architecture in practice. Pearson Education India. Brenner, W., Zarnekow, R. and Wittig, H., 2012.Intelligent software agents: foundations and applications. Springer Science Business Media. Buhalis, D. and Law, R., 2008. Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the InternetThe state of eTourism research.Tourism management,29(4), pp.609-623. Celuch, K., Murphy, G.B. and Callaway, S.K., 2007. More bang for your buck: Small firms and the importance of aligned information technology capabilities and strategic flexibility.The Journal of High Technology Management Research,17(2), pp.187-197. Davenport, T.H., 2013.Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology. Harvard Business Press. Dos Santos, M.A., 2011. Minimizing the business impact on the natural environment: A case study of Woolworths South Africa.European Business Review,23(4), pp.384-391. Farkas, M.G., 2007.Social software in libraries: building collaboration, communication, and community online. Information Today, Inc.. Kohli, R. and Grover, V., 2008. Business value of IT: An essay on expanding research directions to keep up with the times.Journal of the association for information systems,9(1), p.23. Li, C., Peters, G.F., Richardson, V.J. and Weidenmier Watson, M., 2012. The consequences of information technology control weaknesses on management information systems: The case of sarbanes-oxley internal control reports.Mis Quarterly,36(1). Riel, M. and Becker, H.J., 2008. Characteristics of teacher leaders for information and communication technology.International handbook of information technology in primary and secondary education, pp.397-417. Rogsch, C. and Klingsch, W., 2012. Basics of Software-Tools for Pedestrian MovementIdentification and Results.Fire technology,48(1), pp.105-125. Turban, E., Leidner, D., McLean, E. and Wetherbe, J., 2008.Information technology for management, (With CD). John Wiley Sons.